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To Special Session, or not to Special Session….

It goes without saying that next weeks’ elections are going to have some effect on the make up of the State Senate, which has been an area more friendly to the Governor’s proposals over the past two sessions than the House of Representatives might have been.

And how much more friendly it is after next Tuesday may determine if there’s a special session for Medicaid expansion… or not.

If conservatives take a great number of the seats in play, this summer might be the most hospitable time for the Governor to attempt to pass some sort of Medicaid reform package. If it ends up being a general wash… then he might let it ride, and save the fistfight until next session.

The problem is, the concept of providing coverage to able-bodied adults isn’t overwhelmingly popular among the Republican rank and file, and already might be a nigh-impossible sell. Imagine it being tried in a far less hospitable political climate?

Not exactly odds you want to play. You might be damned if you do, damned if you don’t, anyway.

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26 thoughts on “To Special Session, or not to Special Session….”

No to a special session and NO to expansion of Medicaid. If Daugaard thinks that the money saved by changing the way IHS works will pay for Medicaid expansion, he is living in a dream world. When have the feds lived up to their promises through IHS in the first place? And to base expanding a program such as Medicaid on those promises is senseless and shortsighted. I think the people in SD know this. I just hope Daugaard does.

Never, Ever, Never should we expand Medicaid… regardless of any savings. If the governor actually believes in smaller government, he should be advocating for changes that get people off of these programs, not expanding them. With a new presidential administration less than 12 months away, how about looking at opportunities to fix these broken systems in a new environment. His proposal regarding Medicaid and IHS costs is very short sighted and contrary to conservative principals.

While I’m only a caucus of one, my caucus has authored an op-Ed piece opposing Medicaid expansion. I don’t believe the votes are there in the house to pass it. Save the per diem check and let’s not have a special session.

Good comment Lee……….don’t worry, Trump will get rid of Obama Care and Common Core. So maybe Daugaard should wait until the Presidential election is over. If he goes ahead with a special session, he’ll be wasting people’s time and money. Don’t listen to your donors , listen to the people who’s insurance rates and deductibles are skyrocketing.Trump is going to crush Hillary and put an end to this non-sense.

The Governor should NOT call a Special Session to get this passed. Why do this to your own party during an election year? It will only harm Republicans and could cost Republicans their seats in the legislature come November.

Not to mention that fact that expanding Medicaid is bad fiscal policy since we know the federal government can’t afford it and will cut the “benefit” sooner rather than later. We have no idea if the federal government will even follow through or if the next President will change or reverse course.

If the governor calls a special session after the primaries for the legislature because he thinks that the lame duck legislature will be more likely to do his bidding, it will be shameful and the type of thing that makes so many people sick and tired of politics. That will cost Republicans in future elections in the state. Daugaard is retiring; so he does not care about that. Republican Party leaders, however, should care and put every once of pressure that they have on him in order to deter him, especially since history has proven the expanding Medicaid has disastrous results.

The IHS will agree to anything you ask of them, but they’ll never pay for it. That’s how they operate. As a manager at Select Hospital in Sioux Falls complained “they’ll authorize a helicopter ride around the world, but the’all never pay for it.”
When I worked at the Flandreau Hospital, every tribal member who came in was asked to sign an extra piece of paper, printed in large type, promising to pay the bill if IHS didn’t. We had to explain that there was a good chance IHS wouldn’t pay, and that they would be obligated for the charges.

In states that have expanded Medicaid, way more people than expected have signed up, as people drop their existing insurance or reduce their incomes in order to qualify. And each of those new enrollees are costing, on average,$1000/year more than projected.
Add that to the fact that people on Medicaid use hospital emergency depts at twice the rate of everybody else, which probably explains why they cost so much more money.

I have an excellent example of a family who would sign up in a heartbeat for expanded Medicaid. Well, they already are on WIC, subsidized housing, food stamps, and all the rest. They have 3 kids. Mom doesn’t work, choosing instead to work as a “writer” who hasn’t to date sold anything and to homeschool their oldest child, dad just finished college after 12 years with a teaching degree but is very selective in where he wants to teach and where he will sub, and who BTW does not choose to work this summer and hasn’t found a teaching job yet. Mom does not want to move from their present location to wherever hubby could find a job, if he was looking very hard. They have lived off the govt essentially for the last 8 or more years, and of course have no other health insurance than Medicaid for the kids, but they would be first in line for expanded Medicaid because they only take “what they need” in the words of the wife! These are two very able-bodied adults who could both hold decent jobs.
Do NOT expand Medicaid to those who could but choose not to support themselves!